Commencement
by falafel90
Summary: A look at the many graduation ceremonies in the lives of Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry. Finchel, one-shot.


**A/N:** Hey guys! I got this idea after I went to my sister's high school graduation and saw all the singing that people did. I couldn't get the idea out of my head, so here it is! Hopefully you like it! Enjoy! And please review!

**Disclaimer:** _Glee_ is not mine. _With a Little Help From My Friends_ by the Beatles, _Good Riddance_ by Green Day, and _Friends Forever_ by Vitamin C aren't either. Just thought you should know.

* * *

"It is unnecessary to say that every one of you has been looking forward to graduation since your first day at McKinley High School. Desperately seeking both an end and a beginning, each of you has longed to graduate and move on with your lives. Well, here it is. How does it feel?" An older woman, maybe in her late fifties or early sixties, stares down at the graduating class of 2009 with wide eyes and a huge smile. Everyone cheers, though the woman, who is probably a member of the Board of Education, is a mystery to all.

Though Rachel Berry is not a senior and, therefore, not graduating, she cheers, too. She is only a freshman, but she knows this day will come for her in three years, and she yearns for it, just as those in red caps and gowns did only yesterday.

The football stadium is packed with sobbing parents and bored siblings, she notices. There aren't many people she knows, and she internally squeals at the thought. The less people she knows, the lesser the chance that she'll be brutally and cruelly tortured. It's not that she can't handle it—Rachel Berry can handle anything (a fact of which she constantly reminds herself)—but she doesn't want her dads to see how miserable her high school life really is. She doesn't want their pity.

As a member of McKinley High's advanced choir, she was asked to sing at the graduation ceremony. Not only will she sing with her fellow peers, but she will also sing a solo, a song dedicated to the graduating class from the underclassmen. She feels special. Proud. Talented. She just hopes no one sneaked a slushie in under his or her gown (she's fairly confident no one has, as most of the people who throw the icy beverage at her are in her own class; the seniors don't really know her).

After the valedictorian gives his speech and before the diplomas are handed out, Rachel steps up onto the stage, smack dab in the middle of the field. She thinks that maybe this is what it's like to perform at the Super Bowl.

She sees a boy in the front row, a boy who was in her piano class, a boy whose recital solo she stole. He gives her the middle finger.

Or maybe it's not like the Super Bowl at all.

She steps up to the microphone.

"My name is Rachel Berry," she says confidently, and the microphone screeches a bit. "The underclassmen thought it would be a nice gesture to dedicate a song to the graduating class, and my fellow classmates chose _With a Little Help From My Friends_ by the Beatles." She clears her throat, and continues. "We feel that the sentiment is entirely appropriate. As you journey off into the real world, never forget that we, as your friends, will always help you in your efforts to succeed." Rachel gives her best show face, a face that is eerily cheery and fake, as she knows that nobody in the room is _her_ friend, nobody would ever help _her_ succeed, and nobody would even want _her_ help. She wants to cry at the irony of Mr. Ryerson picking her to sing _this_ song of all songs, but she doesn't because she knows she must perform.

She pats her simple and conservative black dress as the music begins to play.

_What would you think if I sang out of tune,  
Would you stand up and walk out on me?  
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,  
And I'll try not to sing out of key._

_Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,  
Mmm, I get by with a little help from my friends,  
Mmm, I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends._

She wonders why this song was one of the options students were allowed to choose from if they were just going to change the lyrics. Rachel does not approve of getting high, but she also doesn't approve of changing the lyrics to a song in order to censor them.

_What do I do when my love is away.  
(Does it worry you to be alone)  
How do I feel by the end of the day  
(Are you sad because you're on your own)  
_

_No, I get by with a little help from my friends,  
Mmm, get by with a little help from my friends,  
Mmm, gonna to try with a little help from my friends._

The choir sings the second and fourth questions in the verse, and she can't help but feel like crap. The answer she must give as per the song is not truly _her_ answer. She's sad, and it _does_ worry her to be alone, very much so. But maybe it's also fitting that she responds otherwise because, if she were honest with herself, she'd never admit her loneliness to anyone.

_No, I get by with a little help from my friends,  
Mmm, get by with a little help from my friends,  
Mmm, gonna to try with a little help from my friends._

She wishes she had friends. But—no, she doesn't need them, she tells herself. She's Rachel freakin' Berry, and she'll have all the friends she wants when she's performing on Broadway with the legends of the stage. Then she'll have friends who share her passion for the arts and understand her desire to be famous.

_No, I get by with a little help from my friends,  
Mmm, get by with a little help from my friends,  
Mmm, gonna to try with a little help from my friends._

She ends the song, and though some lyrics are cut out, and some butchered, she is satisfied with the level of her performance. She bows as the graduates and the audience claps lightly, and she wonders if most of them were even paying attention. She walks off of the stage and onto the metal risers off to the left side of the stage where the rest of the choir is standing. They look at her with disgust, and she knows that it must simply be because they were not given the opportunity to sing a solo like she was—she knows they weren't giving her that look because her performance was lacking (she has near perfect pitch; she would know if her voice failed her).

She thinks about her performance, though, as the graduates begin to receive their diplomas, and she wishes she had the type of friends the song so lovingly referred to…the type of friends that would help her when she needed it. She thinks about love, too, and then acknowledges the fact that she has no right to hope for love, true love, when she can't even find _friends_.

When she gets home, she cries to herself.

* * *

The first time Finn Hudson hears Rachel Berry sing—or at least, the first time he hears Rachel Berry sing by herself—is in his freshman year. He goes to the graduation and sits with a bunch of the people from football to cheer on his fellow teammates who are graduating. Finn doesn't want to be here, simply because he knows how boring graduations can be (he went to his cousin's graduation from Ohio State, and, man, it took forever). Once Rachel Berry opens her mouth and begins to sing, however, he is glad Puck forced him to tag along—not that he'd ever admit it.

When she finishes, he nearly claps (he stopped himself before Puck could call him a dumbass, or, perhaps, something even more offensive). As Principal Figgins says his last words to the class of 2009, something about going places and doing things, Finn can't help but think that, despite everything the football team has put Rachel through, she's going to be the one person in their class who leaves this hick town for something bigger, brighter, and better.

* * *

Rachel is, yet again, invited to sing at the 2010 Commencement Ceremony for McKinley High School, but she is not alone. After losing Regionals, Mr. Schue managed to convince Principal Figgins that the graduation could be their last hurrah as a club. Figgins doesn't want them to perform (why should he let a losing team play at commencement?), but he lets them anyway—as long as each student gets their own form of transportation to the school. Mr. Schuester excitedly agrees, and tells the bummed students. They accept, although hesitantly. It isn't until they find out that glee will return in the fall that the group becomes excited.

Rachel, who remembers the loneliness and despair she felt at the graduation the year before, is ecstatic. She has friends. Good friends. Sort of. And a boyfriend. Who loves her.

Glee is good for her, she thinks, and she can't believe that she almost quit it for that stupid musical. She thinks about Tina, about Kurt, about Quinn—they've all become close over the year, so close, and it literally warms her to the core.

And Finn. Finn, Finn, Finn. He loves her. He loves _her_. She pinches herself every once and awhile because she can't believe that they've finally managed to get their timing right.

When he kisses her, she feels alive. She feels happy. She feels _loved_.

When Mr. Schue tells her he is having the club sing _Good Riddance_ by Green Day, she's excited. It's perfect. Suddenly everything feels right in the world.

Everything changes the day of the graduation.

"You are all losers," she hears Ms. Sylvester say that day. She stands at the podium as a guest speaker, and nearly everyone is in tears—and not the good, happy tears that are supposed to be shed on graduation. "Every single one of you. And I'm not just talking about those graduating today." She's wearing a black tracksuit with a black cap.

Rachel is in tears, as is Tina. Puck looks pissed off, and Finn simply looks rather confused.

"However, congratulations on accomplishing the miniscule task of completing high school. Although any idiot can do it, really—just look at one William Schuester. And George W. Bush. That's how Sue sees it. Thank you."

While Principal Figgins steps up to the podium, Mr. Schuester tries to calm everyone down.

"Look, she's wrong," he says. "You guys are brilliant." He's waving his arms around, hoping to regain some semblance of peace, but it's no use. Rachel's crying the hardest of them all, and it's not helping the club that one of their leaders is losing it just as they are about to perform.

Finn remembers Rachel's performance from last year, and hugs her close as she cries. His large arms clasp her tight, and Rachel feels just the tiniest bit better.

Finn leans down to her face, and his lips brush her ear as he whispers, "Rachel Berry, you are going to be the one girl in this town who makes something of herself. You're far from a loser." He tells her of the first time he heard her sing at last year's graduation, and how he thought she was amazing, even then. "I promise, you'll be a star." She looks up at him and smiles. She stares at his lips, which are curved in a half grin, and she licks her own.

"How do you know?" she asks.

"You're very talented," he says. "I would know, I'm very talented, too."

She laughs. Things don't seem so bad.

"Just promise me you won't forget about me," Finn says, "when you become, you know, the next big thing." He rubs her cheek with his thumb.

"Oh, don't worry," she says. "I might be the one girl in this town who makes something of herself, but you'll be the one boy." She flashes her perfect white teeth, and he can't help but chuckle. She pauses for a few seconds, listening to the sound of his laughter, and then bluntly says, "I love you."

Finn can't help himself. He kisses her.

She still has her doubts when the club gets on stage to sing (what if she doesn't become the next Barbara Streisand?), but maybe, just maybe, if she has her friends from glee—and Finn, of course—it won't matter if she never becomes a star.

_Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road.  
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go.  
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why.  
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time._

_It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.  
I hope you had the time of your life._

(Okay, it will, she thinks, but maybe it won't hurt _as_ much if Broadway isn't in her future.)

Even though Karofsky comes to graduation just to throw a slushie at Rachel and Finn, the two of them are pretty darn happy.

* * *

Though Figgins asks Mr. Schuester if the glee club would like to perform at the 2011 McKinley High Commencement, he has to decline. The date of the graduation ceremony is a day after Nationals. They'll be in New York, visiting the Empire State Building, seeing _Wicked_, and winning best show choir in the _freakin'_ nation.

The day of the graduation, the day after they sing themselves to victory, Rachel sneaks into Finn's hotel room and they make love for the first time.

Kurt accidentally walks in on them snuggling afterward, and then tells everyone that they finally did _it_.

They don't bother to look embarrassed because, really, they're not.

* * *

At their graduation, the original twelve don't sing together. They sit with their red caps and gowns on, separated and alone based on the first letter of their last name. Artie and Rachel sit in the front, near to Tina and Mike; Quinn sits a few rows back, close to Finn and Kurt, who sit a few rows in front of Mercedes; Santana sits a row behind her, and Puck sits behind _her_, and Matt is two rows behind him; and Brittany is somewhere in the middle. They're sad to be apart, but they all know that, though this is the first time, it surely isn't the last time. After the upcoming summer, they'll all be separated.

Rachel and Kurt will be in New York (and though Finn hasn't told Rachel yet, so will he); Artie will be at USC, and the rest will be at various state schools within Ohio.

When Rachel receives her diploma, she scans the crowd and meets eyes with Finn. He smiles his goofy, dorky smile, and she grins in return, though it doesn't meet her eyes. She prays that they can handle their time apart while she's in the city and he's at Ohio State. She turns away and a small teardrop runs down her cheek.

Later, at a celebratory dinner with their two families, Rachel completely breaks down.

"I'm not leaving you!" she says through sobs. "I'm going to go to a state school in Ohio and that's final!" Her dads look at each other, shocked, while Finn looks floored.

"Wait—but—" he tries to speak, but she cuts him off.

"Don't try to talk me out of it," she says, wiping her eyes. "I love you too much to let us be apart for four years. I love you more than I want to become a star."

Finn's heart soars at the statement.

"But—"

"Stop worrying!" she says, putting a finger over his lips. "We'll move to New York after college. It'll be perfect, and we'll get to be together." Kurt, Burt, and Carole are nearly bursting with laughter, but Rachel doesn't seem to notice.

"For god's sake, Rachel," Kurt says with a smirk, "he's trying to tell you he got into Fordham! It was a surprise he was saving for tonight!"

"Partial singing scholarship," he mumbles with a dorky grin.

She shoves him out of his seat for not telling her sooner. Then she gets on the floor and kisses him.

Kurt whistles.

"We'd better be getting an apartment together!" he shouts with a finger in the air while the two make their way back to their seats.

* * *

When they graduate college, it is no big deal. The bigger deal is that Finn's got a job lined up at an advertising agency, and Rachel's got a part in an off-Broadway production of _West Side Story_. They're lives are going smoothly, according to plan, and they both feel like they've got it all.

Rachel worries that maybe it's too perfect. Finn tells her she shouldn't worry because it's not perfect—they only think it is because they're blinded by love.

"Sometimes I feel that way, too. Then I remind myself that we live in a craphole with my step-brother," he says jokingly. Their lives _aren't_ perfect, but they're damn near close.

* * *

"This is, like, the cutest thing ever," Finn whispers in Rachel's left ear.

"I know," she whispers back. "I know." She wipes her eyes with a tissue she retrieves from the box sitting in her lap. Her director wasn't happy she missed her show today, but she wouldn't miss this for _anything_.

The two sit in plastic chairs, looking on as their son, James, sings Vitamin C's _Friends Forever_ in a graduation cap made out of oak tag with thirteen other preschool children. He dances awkwardly, like his father, trying to follow along with the motions that the teacher had taught him the week before.

_As we go on  
We remember  
All the times we  
Had together  
And as our lives change  
Come whatever  
We will still be  
Friends forever_

Finn hugs Rachel tightly, and Rachel puts her head on his shoulder.

Miss Mary-Anne steps in front of the room when their song is finished.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you just how much your children have grown in this past year. Not only have most of them learned to tie their shoes, cut with scissors, and color in the lines, but they have also learned to make friends—a most important lesson in life."

Rachel thinks of glee club, of Finn, of the 2009 McKinley High Commencement Ceremony, and of her sweet son, who has learned more in preschool than she did in her first fifteen years, and is so, so proud.

To her right, Kurt is a bigger mess than she is. He takes a tissue, hugging Rachel, and pats his tears dry. He waves at his nephew excitedly.

"He dances just like Finn, the poor kid," he says softly to Rachel, and she nods sympathetically.

"Hey," Finn says quietly, reaching over Rachel to shove Kurt lightly, "I heard that!"


End file.
